10 min water change!

[Ne0eN]

Since the routine water change is the least fun part of this hobby, I came up with a method that works for me and only takes 10 min. Now granted that it only works if you have an outside refugium, I decided it may be worth to share this concept. (at least to get you thinking about adding a refugium) :idea2:

 

Setup:

60g reef

10g sump

20g refugium (3 compartments - intake, main fuge area, overflow)

lots of buckets!

 

My refugium is located above the main tank and it gravity-feeds the display. A secondary pump in the sump pushes the water into the refugium.

 

Step 1. Premix the RO/DI water the night before. I use 2 5gal buckets. Dump the salt, put a powerhead to mix and aerate the water, don't forget to check the salinity - adjust in necessary.

 

Step 2. Turn off the fuge pump.

 

Step 3. Syphon/drain out two smaller fuge compartments. Gently syphon/drain the main fuge compartment, being carefull not to disturb things too much. When both buckets fill up, stop the process.

 

Step 4. Position the new water bucket above the sump. Start the fuge pump. Start syphoning/draining new water into the sump. Adjust the rate of the flow so that the sump doesnt over flow and/or drains too much.

 

This method is fast and most importantly does not disturb the main display tank and stress out its cohabitants. The key is to match the temperature and salinity parameters. I usually do not use any buffers or additives, but this would be a good time to premix them. In my setup, the above change works out to ~10%.

 

Comments welcome!

 

-Rob

[rocko918]

this seem like it defeats the purpose of the fuge. I would take the water out of the main tank. that is where your bio-load is. not the water with all your critters and free floating stuff.

 

just my 2cents...

[Ne0eN]

I guess I never see any free-floating stuff in my fuge. Just pods that are hiding inside the cheato, rubble, sand...

[davelin315]

I think that it's the unseen things in a refugium that you would want to protect. Don't forget that there are tons of planktonic creatures in there as well where there are fewer filter feeders and predators, and also slower and gentler flow. When you drain out this water, my guess is that you're removing a lot of the animals that are suspended in the water column that you may not be able to make out with the naked eye.

 

I'm not sure of this, but I'll try and look at some water under a microscope from a refugium and also the main display itself to compare what I see when we start our next unit, micro to macro, in science. It'd be interesting to see if there is in fact anything that can be made out in the water column of the refugium that is not present in the main display. Although the water obviously flows through, I would imagine that with all of the flow in a display, the planktonic life might have a hard time surviving.

[rocko918]

yea, what Dave was saying. it's not the stuff you can see i was talking about. All the other goodies!!!

[flowerseller]

A healthy, well producing Fuge would be back to a similar "free floating" ratio in a few short days. It's water is constantly refreshing itself from the main tank anyway. So a little house cleaning never really hurt anybody and might even stimulate a burst of spawning activity.

[rioreef]

I turn off the main pump which allows about 5 more gallons to drain back into the sump. I then use a rio 2100 to pump water out of the skimmer section and the main return area ( I have to switch the pump from one section to another during the process of taking about 10g out. The fuge is seperated by a 17" baffle on an 18" high tank, so I never end up taking any of the fuge water out.

 

cr

[ErikS]

I turn off the main pump...............

 

Same here, procedure is -

 

#1 - Turn off main pump

#2 - pump water from skimmer chamber (swishing 1st if anything on chamber floor)

#3 - Open valve on new water

#4 - fill sump to previous level

#5 - turn on main pump, add water if req'd

 

No disturbing the fuge, & cleans 1st chamber when required - total time under 10 minutes (generally just use the feed timer on main pump = 10 minutes)

[BeltwayBandit]

I do 5-6 gallon changes. I premix the water a day or two in advance. I currently use a Mag-7 to mix, yeah I know its overkill but I have an extra one laying around since I redid my plumbing. The good thing is if you run it for a day it warms the water and you don't need a heater. Then I tote the new water out to my aquarium. I turn off the return pump and unplug my auto top off. I then drain 5-6 gallons from the main display. Once I am done with that I turn the return pump back on and add the new water into the sump. That way the new water gets mixed in with the old prior to being introduced into the main tank. I figure it takes about 15 minutes to complete the process.

 

BB

[dbartco]

I have a 1" valve off the closed loop. Easy when you have a fishroom behind the tank.

 

-Turn off main return.

-Open valve and fill a wastewater 33 gallon trashcan.

-Use Mag 9.5 in new water trashcan (33gal) to refill into tank.

-Turn on main pump.

 

One coral does poke out the top when draining, but only for about a minute. A Mag 9.5 as a mixing pump in a 33gal heats up new water to almost exactly 80 degrees! No heater needed. I am also too chicken to empty wastewater directly down the drain, just in case....